Collection of Letters from Deneys Schreiner to his parents

These are mainly the war time letters of Deneys Schreiner, later a professor at Wits, to his mother and father, Judge Oliver Deney Schreiner. Deneys was in the South African 6th Armoured Division in Italy.

The 6th South African Armoured Division was the second armoured division of the South African Army and was formed during World War II. Established in early 1943, it was based on a nucleus of men from the former 1st South African Infantry Division who had returned to South Africa after the Second Battle of El Alamein in late 1942. The division was initially transferred to Egypt for training, after which it served in the Allied campaign in Italy during 1944 and 1945.

Deneys Schreiner (1923-2008) was a liberal and an academic, a scientist and a Vice Principal at Natal University (Pietermaritzburg Campus). He was known as the man with the flowing beard, which he kept in place and sprouting from his face as a personal protest against the apartheid regime. As the man aged, the beard turned from black to Santa Claus white. He shaved off his beard after the first South African democratic elections in April 1994, but by that stage of his life the beard had become an expression of his personality and there is a delightful family photo of the Schreiner Clan in December 1999 with the famous beard back in place.

Oliver Deneys Schreiner MC KC (29 December 1890 – 27 July 1980), was a judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa. Judge Schreiner was twice passed over for appointment as Chief Justice, despite being the most senior appellate judge (tradition dictated that the appointment should go to the most senior appellate judge). On the first occasion he was superseded by Henry Allan Fagan, who accepted the appointment with reluctance; although it was obvious to both that Schreiner was being punished by the government for his role in the coloured vote crisis. Initially the judges of the Court had, at the suggestion of outgoing Chief Justice Albert van der Sandt Centlivres, tried to reach an agreement that they would all refuse appointment, so that the government would be forced to appoint Schreiner.[5] But this plan failed when notorious National Party favourite L. C. Steyn failed to agree. Fagan therefore accepted the Chief Justiceship with misgivings, after consulting with Schreiner, so that Steyn would not be appointed.

When Fagan retired two years later, Schreiner was again passed over, this time losing out to Steyn. Schreiner was later described by Ellison Kahn as "the greatest Chief Justice South Africa never had".

Politically, Ellison Kahn classifies Schreiner as a traditional Cape liberal: he opposed racism, and in old age refused to sit on whites-only bus seats. In 1970, he refused to be renominated as President of the Cripple Care Association of the Transvaal because its constitution had been amended to restrict membership to whites only.

After his retirement he served on the University of the Witwatersrand Council and as president of the South African Institute of Race Relations

Some letters are from North Africa.

The Collection fits into an A4 folder.

R1,500